Sony executive says company has no plans to abandon Apple's iTunes

Sony has backed off earlier suggestions that the company is hoping to eventually pull its content from iTunes in the event that a competing service, such as its own Music Unlimited, becomes a viable alternative.

"Sony Music as I understand it has no intention of withdrawing from iTunes," Sony Network Entertainment Chief Operating Officer Shawn Layden said, according to Silicon Alley Insider. "They're one of our biggest partners in the digital domain. I think those words were either taken out of context or the person who spoke them was unclear on the circumstances."

The words Layden referred to came from an interview last week, in which Michael Ephraim, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment, told an Australian newspaper that he hoped his company would not need to sell music on iTunes in the future. Ephraim questioned whether Sony would need to partner with Apple to sell music through iTunes if its new Music Unlimited service, which debuted in late 2010, became successful enough.

Sony has apparently backed off its comments about iTunes as the company has just launched its "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" service in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Thursday's opening gives three new countries the opportunity to try the digital music service, which gives subscribers the ability to access a catalogue of millions of songs from major record labels including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI music.

The Music Unlimited service allows users to play music from a variety of Internet-connected Sony devices such as Bravia TVs, Blu-ray disc players and the PlayStation 3 gaming console. The service is also available on Sony's Vaio line and other personal computers.

"As we expand 'Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity' around the globe, it signifies a paradigm shift which redefines the existing music listening experience by revolutionizing music access, discovery, integration and personalization," said Kazuo Hirai, president of Networked Products & Services Group, Sony Corporation. "Through Sony's high quality network-enabled devices, we are focused on delivering dynamic services 'powered by Qriocity' to offer global customers with compelling digital entertainment propositions."

Music Unlimited has basic plans for $3.99 U.S., $4.99 Australia, and $5.99 New Zealand. The basic plan works as an infinite ad-free radio station and allows subscribers to listen to dozens of personalized channels categorized by genre, era and mood without the need to download or manage music files.

Premium plans cost $9.99 per month U.S., $12.99 Australia and $13.99 New Zealand. It allows users to listen in full to every song on demand, create personal playlists of favorites, and gain access to premium top 100 channels which are regularly updated with the latest hits. The service also adapts to users' music preferences and constantly tailors channels to offer a compatible lineup.

It irritates me all to hell that the tech press seems driven by "clickthrough," not any particular mission to inform. This story from earlier this week is an example. The story meme, originally, was taken from a Sony executive who made a statement that the latest Sony music store... should it catch on (unlike the other umpteen attempts at an online Sony store, which DIDN'T catch on)... MIGHT (in a pig's eye) lead to Sony Music leaving iTunes. The meme was, "Sony will leave iTunes in retaliation for the Sony Reader app being rejected!!!! Or something, anything."

This is a stupid meme, fueled by a subtle anti-Apple "Jobs is Stalin" kind of myth, that, if you take a look at it on its face, is ridiculous. Will there be a Sony store? Well, there is already. Has been, off and on, for a long time. Nobody goes there. Nobody wants to go to "the company store" and get walled off into another Sony format, where only Sony artists are highlighted. Go to one store, iTunes or Amazon, basically, and pick from the whole range of music.

A more useful model for tech JOURNALISM would be an examination of what the deal is between publishers, newspapers, magazines, distributors and so on, in the print and digital information markets. Is Apple's desire for 30% of the price of subs really out of line? What is the overall price structure? Will this result in a flight from iTunes/the App Store? Really? And what might be behind the relatively few quotes from corporations saying the deal is unreasonable?

All the online journals, the ones that get the most clicks, are like the old "Crossfire" program CNN ran for years. A staged debate that results from a deliberately provocative statement of the "problem," because the real attraction is to see Pat Buchanan yelling at Michael Kinsley etc. Information value? None. Raw meat for the cable addict. Participation adrenaline attracts views. Heat brings you in, but there's no light there.

Sony has backed off earlier suggestions that the company is hoping to eventually pull its content from iTunes in the event that a competing service, such as its own Music Unlimited, becomes a viable alternative.

This is what the phrase cross that bridge when we come to it was invented for.

So many of these music stores have a track record of going under and taking your music library with it. I think it will be hard to convince consumers to use a new service. It would certainly have to be DRM free and use a standard format (just like the CDROM was).

It irritates me all to hell that the tech press seems driven by "clickthrough," not any particular mission to inform. This story from earlier this week is an example. The story meme, originally, was taken from a Sony executive who made a statement that the latest Sony music store... should it catch on (unlike the other umpteen attempts at an online Sony store, which DIDN'T catch on)... MIGHT (in a pig's eye) lead to Sony Music leaving iTunes. The meme was, "Sony will leave iTunes in retaliation for the Sony Reader app being rejected!!!! Or something, anything."

This is a stupid meme, fueled by a subtle anti-Apple "Jobs is Stalin" kind of myth, that, if you take a look at it on its face, is ridiculous. Will there be a Sony store? Well, there is already. Has been, off and on, for a long time. Nobody goes there. Nobody wants to go to "the company store" and get walled off into another Sony format, where only Sony artists are highlighted. Go to one store, iTunes or Amazon, basically, and pick from the whole range of music.

A more useful model for tech JOURNALISM would be an examination of what the deal is between publishers, newspapers, magazines, distributors and so on, in the print and digital information markets. Is Apple's desire for 30% of the price of subs really out of line? What is the overall price structure? Will this result in a flight from iTunes/the App Store? Really? And what might be behind the relatively few quotes from corporations saying the deal is unreasonable?

All the online journals, the ones that get the most clicks, are like the old "Crossfire" program CNN ran for years. A staged debate that results from a deliberately provocative statement of the "problem," because the real attraction is to see Pat Buchanan yelling at Michael Kinsley etc. Information value? None. Raw meat for the cable addict. Participation adrenaline attracts views. Heat brings you in, but there's no light there.

Excellent points.

Frank Zappa (RIP, great one!) once said: "Most rock journalism is [by] people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read."

Insert 'tech journalism' instead.

Tim Cook is gay, believes in climate change, and cares deeply about racial equality. Deal with it (and please spare us if you can't).

"As we expand 'Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity' around the globe, it signifies a paradigm shift which redefines the existing music listening experience by revolutionizing music access, discovery, integration and personalization," said Kazuo Hirai, president of Networked Products & Services Group, Sony Corporation. "Through Sony's high quality network-enabled devices, we are focused on delivering dynamic services 'powered by Qriocity' to offer global customers with compelling digital entertainment propositions."

Music Unlimited has basic plans for $3.99 U.S., $4.99 Australia, and $5.99 New Zealand. The basic plan works as an infinite ad-free radio station and allows subscribers to listen to dozens of personalized channels categorized by genre, era and mood without the need to download or manage music files.

Premium plans cost $9.99 per month U.S., $12.99 Australia and $13.99 New Zealand. It allows users to listen in full to every song on demand, create personal playlists of favorites, and gain access to premium top 100 channels which are regularly updated with the latest hits. The service also adapts to users' music preferences and constantly tailors channels to offer a compatible lineup.

How is this revolutionary or any different from the numerous other online music services such as Pandora in the US or Spotify in Europe? Except that it seems it is more limited as it is presumably Sony only content???

Spotify is currently working out the kinks to be available in the US, and operates on an advertisement basis with the free version. But you can still search for whatever you want - and make personalized playlists, listen to whole albums, etc. You aren't limited to choosing channels to listen to. You can then purchase individual songs for availability offline. The premium pay-service gets rid of all ads and gives you the ability to save your playlists for offline use and share them via email or facebook, etc...

This Sony product seems limited even for paying premium users...so what's the news?

How is this revolutionary or any different from the numerous other online music services such as Pandora in the US or Spotify in Europe? Except that it seems it is more limited as it is presumably Sony only content???

Spotify is currently working out the kinks to be available in the US, and operates on an advertisement basis with the free version. But you can still search for whatever you want - and make personalized playlists, listen to whole albums, etc. You aren't limited to choosing channels to listen to. You can then purchase individual songs for availability offline. The premium pay-service gets rid of all ads and gives you the ability to save your playlists for offline use and share them via email or facebook, etc...

This Sony product seems limited even for paying premium users...so what's the news?

See, when Sony bought Columbia, etc., they did it under the theory that they were creating synergy. Yeah, that's the ticket: the great company that developed Trinitron, the Walkman, etc., was going to grow by investing in a music and film library and production houses. Make the bread they eat! But the corporate monolith that makes is restrictive on each of its divisions. Authority is too diluted, and the accountants take charge. Vision becomes a vague hope. Vision statements become PR bushit.

So let me get this straight: you can access the entire cataloge from specific, Internet connected Sony products like TVs, PS3s and Viao computers and create playlists etc, but you cannot download this music to put on an iPod/iPhone/insert other portable music player here...

Considering that the world is going mobile, this seems like one of the stupidest ideas ever.

How is this revolutionary or any different from the numerous other online music services such as Pandora in the US or Spotify in Europe? Except that it seems it is more limited as it is presumably Sony only content???

Music Connect has music from all four majors:

Quote:

The service features six million tracks from Sony Music Entertainment, Universal, EMI, and Warner and is available on Sony's own devices including the PS3, Blu-ray disc players, Bravia televisions, and VAIO PCs.

How is this revolutionary or any different from the numerous other online music services such as Pandora in the US or Spotify in Europe? Except that it seems it is more limited as it is presumably Sony only content???

Spotify is currently working out the kinks to be available in the US, and operates on an advertisement basis with the free version. But you can still search for whatever you want - and make personalized playlists, listen to whole albums, etc. You aren't limited to choosing channels to listen to. You can then purchase individual songs for availability offline. The premium pay-service gets rid of all ads and gives you the ability to save your playlists for offline use and share them via email or facebook, etc...

This Sony product seems limited even for paying premium users...so what's the news?

Limited!? I think you should read the article again sir. It's right in the title of the service "music UNlimited powered by Qriosity". Surely you're not so cynical as to think Sony would take the one concern people have about digital music sales(limited portability) tack the prefix "un" onto it and bury it it jargon.

Limited!? I think you should read the article again sir. It's right in the title of the service "music UNlimited powered by Qriosity". Surely you're not so cynical as to think Sony would take the one concern people have about digital music sales(limited portability) tack the prefix "un" onto it and bury it it jargon.

Limited as in limited to Sony's music library which, although substantial is still limited.

Better than my Bose, better than my Skullcandy's, listening to Mozart through my LeBron James limited edition PowerBeats by Dre is almost as good as my Sennheisers.

The service features six million tracks from Sony Music Entertainment, Universal, EMI, and Warner and is available on Sony's own devices including the PS3, Blu-ray disc players, Bravia televisions, and VAIO PCs.